The St. John the Baptist Parish school district is pulling out of the state's student-based budgeting pilot program. The move comes after some School Board members expressed opposition at their meeting on Thursday to participating in the pilot without further clarification from the state about what it involves.

Eliot Kamenitz, The Times-Picayune archiveJohn L. Ory Communication Arts Magnet School was supposed to be the site of a state pilot program for student-based budgeting.

"I'll make this simple. I will send notice to the state that we are withdrawing," Superintendent Courtney Millet said after motions both for and against the pilot failed for lack of a majority vote.

"I hate to make that phone call," she later added.

Millet was with Gov. Bobby Jindal when he announced St. John's participation, as well as that of six other parishes, in February. The state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education last year began studying student-based budgeting, a method of allocating money based on the enrollment at each school. Dollars are allocated per pupil and follow the student to the school level. The principal then decides how the money is spent.

Currently, state money for schools is allocated to the district and district officials decide how much money each school receives.

Board member Russ Wise, who made the motion rejecting the pilot, said that change concerned him because it is unclear what responsibilities would be taken away from School Board members, who taxpayers elected to be custodians of their money.

Russ Wise

"This is taxpayer money. This is not our money," he said. "This money belongs to the people who elected us to be responsible for their money. I'm not going to relinquish that responsibility until someone can tell us who will be responsible and what they will be responsible for."

Wise said he has long had questions about the pilot and has asked state officials to visit the district to explain it, but without success.

"All I've been asking for a year is to get someone to tell us how it works," he said. "And all I'm getting is, 'I'm still working on that.'"

"We're dealing with Ory, and Mrs. Noel, one of the best schools in the district. This is site-based management, getting teachers, principals and parents involved -- and you are a big leader of parents getting involved," board member Gerald Keller told Wise, whose next item on the agenda was a task force to study parental involvement.

Wise said it would be dangerous for the board to base its decision on what principal is at a school now, because there is no way to know who will be there in the future.

"We have no idea at this point if we are surrendering money to our principals or whoever," he said. "I cannot support a program that was not brought before us."

But Keller said the program may never even be put in place.

Gerald Keller

"This is a pilot program. This is testing a program to see if it works or it doesn't work," Keller said. "I would like to see our district be a leader and go along with the program."

Millet said she also thinks it is important for the district to be a leader and that she believes participation in state programs could cause the Department of Education to look favorably on the district when it needs something from the state.

"At this point, we did agree to participate," she said. "I feel it's our chance to be on the forefront of something happening in the state."

Keller made a substitute motion to participate in the pilot program. That failed three to four, with board members Russel Jack, Patrick Sanders and Wise voting against it and board members Sherry DeFrancesch, Keith Jones, Lowell Bacas and Keller voting for it. Board member Clarence Triche abstained and board members Albert "Ali" Burl III, Rodney Nicholas and Phillip Johnson were absent.

When Wise's motion to reject the pilot came up, the votes were reversed, but the four to three vote lacked a majority. While board members tried to figure out whether that left them in or out of the program, Millet volunteered to withdraw.

"It will be difficult to move forward without the full support of the board," she said. "We were honored to be a part of it, but to put that much time and effort into it is not efficient."

Millet said to have someone continue to attend meetings about the pilot when the board may decide to eliminate it later just doesn't make sense.

The pilot has been controversial among board members since it was announced. In March, it spurred an attempt by Burl to require the administration to get board approval for participation in all pilot programs. That measure was tabled and never brought up again.

The state's pilot program is set to take place in three stages. During the first stage, under way this year, school and state officials will meet to define what student-based budgeting should look like in Louisiana.

The second stage will consist of training district officials and principals in the budgeting process. The goal of the third stage is to have the pilot districts applying student-based budgeting to their fiscal year 2012-13 budgets.